Mexico antitrust body suspends fine against Slim’s Telmex

Reuters, 4/4/2013

Mexico’s competition watchdog said on Wednesday it would temporarily suspend a $53 million fine it had levied against a fixed-line phone company controlled by billionaire Carlos Slim. The Federal Competition Commission (Cofeco) ordered in February that Telmex, part of Slim’s telecoms giant America Movil , should pay 657 million Mexican pesos ($53.4 million) after regulators found it had denied rival Axtel access to some of its network.

Cofeco said on its website that an appeal had been filed and that the fine would be suspended during a review by the regulators. Telmex has said it believes Cofeco’s ruling is unfounded. Slim’s legal teams have been able to avoid major rulings against his firms by Cofeco and the country’s telecoms regulator, which have both sought for years to curb the dominance of Slim’s companies.